Brewer

E. T.

Permanent Senate Clerk

Elizabeth T. Brewer, who as permanent clerk of the state Senate played an important, behind-the-scenes role in the legislative process, died Saturday after collapsing at her West Hartford home.

She was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. She was 56.

"I think she brought a lot of know-how and personality. She's going to be greatly missed," Senate Minority Leader M. Adela Eads said. Eads, who has been a senator since 1981, the same year Brewer was appointed permanent clerk, said she was "greatly shocked" by the news of Mrs. Brewer's death from an arterial hemorrhage.

"She was always very calm. I never saw Betty ruffled. If she was she kept it to herself," Eads said.

Mrs. Brewer was a Hartford native whose career with the General Assembly spanned 26 years, 16 of those with the Senate. She was "extremely dedicated," said Anne Demers, who was one of Mrs. Brewer's assistants two years ago. "You would have to be to work in that office because they work very, very long hours during sessions."

Besides filing all bills and amendments, the Senate clerk's office prepares the Senate journal and calendar for daily publication during sessions.

Demers, who now works for the Senate Republican Caucus, said she was "very saddened" by the news of Mrs. Brewer's death. "She was at work yesterday [Friday]," she said.

Mrs. Brewer began her career with the state legislature in 1967, working with the Commission to Revise Criminal Statutes, the Energy Commission, the general law committee and the judiciary committee.

She participated in the review of regulations for a basic automobile reparations system and a commission to study and draft legislation for the reorganization and certification of the courts. The latter commission resulted in the merger of the Circuit Court and the Court of Common Pleas.

In 1977 she was appointed regulation review clerk for the Senate. She served in that role until 1981, when she was designated permanent clerk of the Senate.

Mrs. Brewer leaves her husband, Donald A. Brewer; a son, Patrick Brewer of Granby; a daughter, Colleen Brewer of West Hartford; two sisters, Margaret Riccio of Rocky Hill and Frances Breon of Washington state; three granddaughters, Danielle, Jessica, and Kristen Brewer of Granby; and several nieces and nephews